Logo

Synopsis Nature has gifted Western Himalaya, lying within the majestic Himalayan system west of Nepal, with a huge treasure of a variety of natural resources. But during the past few decades, rising trends in population growth, urbanisation, development of technology, industrialization, new agricultural practices, tourism etc. have brought about dramatic changes in the environment of the region and have resulted in a variety of environmental pollution problems relating to air, water and land. Human greed has thus started taking its toll in the shape of degraded environment and disturbed ecology wherever natural resources have been exploited unimaginatively shrinking them in size and thereby presenting a challenge for environmental scientists and planners alike. In order to minimize the environmental damage caused largely through anthropogenic pressures it is necessary to conserve the resources and ensure their sustained growth besides maintaining ecological balance for the welfare of human beings. It is with this background objective that the present book is proposed to provide naturalists, environmentalists, academicians, researchers and planners acquaintance with the broad based critical assessment of the state-of-art with recent research trends in the area of "Natural Resources of the Western Himalaya". The interdisciplinary volume of 26 chapters written by well known experts is also aimed to address various management aspects designed and adopted in restoring and maintaining the quality of our natural resources.